The name Jesus, like many Hebrew names, also has a meaning. It means "Jah saves" or "Jah is salvation", or something similar. The name "Jesus" is derived from the Greek that was used to write the gospels, and his proper name would be "Yehoshuah" or "Yeshuah". The meaning of his name is appropriate as he agreed to be born as a man so that mankind could be saved. Saved from what? From the sin that the Bible describes as being brought on mankind by the disobedience of the first man, Adam. This is described in Mark 10:45, "For even the Son of man came, not to be ministered to, but to minister and to give his life as a ransom in exchange for many." The same comment is confirmed in Matthew 20:28, "Just as the Son of man came, not to be ministered to, but to minister and to give his life as a ransom in exchange for many." Both of these confirm that Jesus is mankind’s salvation in that he came as a man to ransom mankind so that we could be set free from the effects of the original disobedience and its consequences.

In this case, the ransom paid was not money, it was a life, Jesus’ own life. He exchanged the value of his life for the value of the original human life, that of Adam. Hence, the Bible says, in 1 Cor., 15:45-47 "So it is written: The first man Adam became a living person. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, what is spiritual is not first. What is physical is first, and afterward what is spiritual. The first man is from the earth and made of dust; the second man is from heaven."

So, the first Adam lost life for us, but the second Adam, identified clearly as Jesus Christ, paid a ransom with his own life to nullify what Adam had done. Life for life, indeed!

Just imagine, that was the life of the person who is described in John, 1:3, as the person who made everything that exists, "All things came into existence through him, and apart from him not even one thing came into existence." – "The Word", as he was called. This person agreed to come into the world as a human in order to benefit us and reverse the damage that Adam had caused by his disobedience. By doing so, he gave up his position in Heaven and came to earth as a man instead of the powerful angel he was in Heaven, and he did this at Jehovah’s request and with his full approval (Matthew, 3:17, "This is my Son, the beloved, whom I have approved.").

Just reflect on the love that Jesus must have for us to willingly do that! Just reflect on the love that Jehovah must have for us to arrange for this to happen! John 4:16, says this, "And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love."

John, 14:21 Jesus says, "In turn, whoever loves me will be loved by my father, and I will love him and will clearly show myself to him."

The question really comes down to this: do we love Jesus? If we do, do we have faith in what he said and do we show it? Will we take advantage of what the meaning of his name implies?

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